Chapter 9


You know you don't need to be so shy on reviewing. Fallow Sakaki22, AngelicDagger, and Athena88 examples. Hiasha has also made couple appearances. They keep on replying over and over. I want to know what you think. I don't care if you replied once before.


Disclaimer I don't own FF VIII okay?... Okay.




Two days pass on Caraways week with Rin. Today Caraway decides to take Squall and Rin out to eat at the local restaurant. (You should know the one I just for got the name of it.) The only problem was getting Squall to agree. It was just like him to want to sit around in his room all day and make sure Rin was taken care of right.


"Squall." Caraway knocks on the door.


Something drops on the floor heavily. Then a shifting of chair before foot steps are herd heading to the door. The door opens with a loud creak.


"What?" Squall asks.


Caraway looks Squall over. It was clear his ribs are still bothering him and there was a purplish red mass on the side of his face that faded nicely from the day it happened.


"I wanted to know if you wanted to go out to eat with us Squall." Caraway offers.


"No."


Caraway sighs heavily, "You made me do this."


Caraway reaches to his side and holds up Rin. Rin bats her eyes and wiggles her toes.


'Please.' She signs.


Squall rolls his eyes. He can feel her breaking down his defenses. Caraway holds her up to Squall. Squall meets her eye to eye. Squall takes Rin lets out a hissing breath. He just gave in. Rin, Caraway, and Squall are going to dinner.


"You look fine Squall come on or we'll be late."


At the restaurant Caraway orders them all steaks. Rin's chopped into itty bitty pieces. Almost like mushy baby food. Caraway finds some of his friends and begins to talk away. Squall spins the A-1 sauce bottle and looks at Rin who played with her peas. Seeing her dad Rin takes a pea and chucks it at Squall.


Squall dodges and lets the pea hit the wall. Squall looks at Caraway to make sure it was clear then chucks a pea at his daughter. Rin hits the table and causes Caraway to look at her wondering what was up. Rin looks at Caraway innocently.


Caraway turns back to his conversation. Rin smiles and chucks another pea at her dad. Soon what turned into one pea turns into all of the peas. Green surrounds the floor beneath Squall and Rin. Caraway turns around and sees their empty plates.


"I was thinking I was going to have to shove those down your throats. You ready to go?"


"Yes."


Squall get up and slides in his chair. Caraway signals to Squall that he had a pea in his hair. Squall picks it out and gives him a innocent look. Caraway never looks at the floor. Rin sticks out her tongue and looks at her dad. She so enjoyed this.


The rest of the days pass quickly. Rin tries to be at her worse Squall took a vacation in his room. By weeks end Rin had accumulated an amount of clothes and toys from Caraway. Guilt gifts, but Rin didn't care.


Squall loads what her can in to Rins back pack and puts it on his back. Rin hugs unto his leg and looks up at Caraway. Squall and Caraway make a tense eye contact.


"I assure you Poe was fired and he'll never work around here again. I hope you can forgive me for the earlier mistakes Squall. I would like to see my granddaughter more."


"I don't make Rin do anything." Squall says ending the conversation.


Rin switches her hold to her dads hand. Holding it tight Squall walks out the door leaving Caraway behind. At the bus stop Squall picks up Rin. Ignoring the faint pain in his ribs. Rin holds still. Buses scared her, and she had a full right. What you call the first bus ride wasn't what you'd call pleasant.


Squall plants Rin on a seat and then sits down next to her. When the bus starts to roll Rin looks out the window. Everything went by fast and she was fascinated. A woman with another child Rin's age stares at Rin like it was strange for a two year old to get excited by a bus ride.


Once back to the garden Rin starts to act up. She was finally back home. As soon as she saw Irvine she was gone. Squall watches her and she begins to sign frantically to a confused Irvine, strangely he felt thankful.


"Welcome back Squall!" Zell shouts slapping Squall on the back.


In a flash Squall feels all his mending unwind and pain jumps through his body. Squall sucks in his breath and glares at Zell. One around Zell sees Squalls unhappy face and the considerably faded purplish blue mass on his face.


"Eeeeeep." Zell lets out as his eyes open wide.


Squall regains his composure. If not for Zell Jr., Zell would be flat on his ass right now. But once again he was riding in his front carrier. Xu probably never had anytime with her son without Zell butting in.


"Um... I'll let Xu know your back and um... Never mind." Zell grins nervously.


Selphie comes up with a group of children behind her. She waves happily seeing Squall back from his vacation. Rin runs over to Selphie and hugs her tight. Hugging her tight, she looks at her husband. Irvine made eye contact.


"Say Squall would Rin like to go and play with the other kids?" Irvine asks.


"It'll give you time to get settled back in." Selphie adds.


"Rin?"


Rin peaks at the other children. Some of them wave to her. Rin looks at Selphie then back at the kids. Looking up at her dad she begins to dance. She didn't know what to do. Go with her dad or go with Selphie and the kids. She always lived the protective life. Finally Rin points at the kids.


"Okay Rin, Irvine have her back by 16OO hundred hours in one piece." Squall orders.


Irvine agrees and wraps his arm around Selphie's waist. Squall grunts and walks off to his room. He was amazingly tired. Irvine smiles and kisses Selphie.


"Now all we need is Zell's son and we got all the kids in the Garden." Irvine teases.


Selphie pushes Irvine aside and herds the kids out side to get some fresh air. Irvine fallows on behind her herding up the wanderers. Rin squints under the sunlight and watches shyly as the kids spread out to play. Irvine lays down on the grass. Making a perfect chair for Selphie.


"Rin go play." Selphie says and she jumps on Irvine.


"OOF!" Irvine eyes roll in his head.


Rin looks at a group of girls playing ring-around-the-rosies. Rin taps one on the shoulder and taps her self on the chest then at the girls. The girl looks at her friends the pause for awhile. Then they agree to let Rin play. Soon ring-around-the-rosies turns into tag.


Selphie puts her head on her hands and watches them playing. She liked watching them play. It was so relaxing. A loud rugged noise made her look down, well of course till Irvine fell asleep. And when Irvine fell asleep it was time to round up the kids. Irvine was such a perfect timer.


"Come on kids time to go back in!" Selphie calls out. "I'll race ya!"


Irvine opens his eyes in time to see the kids run for the indoors. Irvine jumps up and grabs his hat. Selphie did it again to him.


After the kids are herded in Irvine picks out Rin and picks her up. Squall was expecting her. ON the way up Rin falls asleep in Irvines arms. Irvine opens the door for Squalls room to found Squall spread out on his bed sound asleep. Rin wakes up and slides out of Irvines arms and crawls up along side her dad. She picks up her dads arms and snuggles up under neith it.


Irvine finds a blanket in the corner and tucks in Squall and Rin. Then he sets Squall alarm clock. Setting a note with where he's supposed to be on the snooze button. Irvine leaves and shuts off the light.


"Hey cowboy can I tuck you in now?" Selphie asks.


"Yes, Selphie you can now." Irvine says with a twinkle in his eye.


A week later Rin wakes to find another weapon toy like the one she had before. ON it was taped a note which read. 'sorry I missed your birthday.'


Now we halve to make the unfortunate jump to Rin's third birthday. Again there was a package. An update of her favorite toy. This time it was medal. At three she was allowed to join kids in learning how to fight. She walked beside her dad and carried her sword just as proud as her dad did his.


"Wait!" Came a call from behind them.


Selphie, Quintis, Zell, Xu, and Irvine all stood behind them all with items to give Rin.


"If Rin's gonna fight she's gonna need an outfit." Quintis says.


"Yes, and she's the first born of all of us so she gets to be a little of all of us." Irvine adds.


Rin looks at them then up at her dad. Squall holds his head. Poor Rin.